Another deliberately slow day. Paul helped me raise the Code Zero early morning and we spent most of the day plodding along, enjoying the warm weather and chatting. I put the fishing line with a cedar plug lure and gave Paul the choice of lures to put on the hand line. He chose the pink one and it came up trumps late afternoon when we pulled in a nice mahi mahi (as you can see from the picture). The mahi was duly fileted, most being frozen but plenty for a very fresh, bountiful and delicious dinner.
Before sun set we lowered the Code Zero and put up a reefed main and full head sail. We performed a final analysis of the weather ahead of us and picked a heading for the evening. Over night we’ve alternated between motoring, sailing and often just a slight assist from the batteries. Talking to the other cruisers in our little fleet heading north people have chosen different tactics to deal with the weather ahead. Some have forged on through hoping to pass in front of the system and deal with the weather on the other side. Some are opting to pass by on the south including one who’s heaved to for the night as they’re further north than us. One or two weren’t so aware of the coming system and are running. This morning and this evening we’ll learn how each of our strategies work out. At the time of writing we’ve now been sailing for an hour in light winds but fully expecting stronger winds any minute now.
Nice catch.